The rupee tumbled for the third straight session and lost 50 paise to settle near its lowest level at 90.84 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday, amid rising crude oil prices and sustained outflow of foreign funds.

Volatile global sentiment and a firm American currency accelerated the withdrawal of foreign institutional investors, even as domestic investors resorted to value buying, forex traders said.

According to traders rupee faced pressure after data released on Thursday showed India's trade deficit widened slightly to USD 25.04 billion in December 2025, compared to USD 24.53 billion in November and USD 22 billion in December 2024.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.37 and touched an intraday low of 90.89, a tad above its lowest-ever closing level. It ended the session at 90.84 (provisional) against the greenback, down 50 paise from Wednesday's close.

The rupee declined by 11 paise to close at 90.34 against the US dollar on Wednesday, after falling 6 paise on Tuesday.

The domestic foreign exchange market was closed on Thursday due to the Mumbai municipal corporation elections.

The Indian currency recorded its lowest closing level of 90.93 on December 16, when it also saw its lifetime low of 91.14 in intraday trade.

Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst at Mirae Asset ShareKhan, said the rupee fell for the third consecutive session amid persistent foreign fund outflows and a strong dollar overnight.

He said the dollar strengthened after better-than-expected US unemployment claims and manufacturing data.

"We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias on uncertainty over trade deal talks and geopolitical tensions. A strong dollar, FII outflows from capital markets and elevated crude oil prices may pressurise the rupee," Choudhary said and projected the USD-INR spot price to trade "in a range of 90.50 to 91.25".

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.06 per cent lower at 99.26.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 1.14 per cent higher at USD 64.49 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex climbed 187.64 points to settle at 83,570.35, while the Nifty rose 28.75 points to 25,694.35.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 4,781.24 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

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